Roundabout Way
by Wowzer313
Summary: Inuyasha is finally fed up with certain treatments, and he finally decides to let everyone in a one mile radius know exactly how he feels...


Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi does.

Author's Notes: After my first fic, I only got 8 reviews. But I was happy, because they were _good_ reviews! I was so excited! Thank you to everyone who read _Watching_, and thanks especially to everybody who reviewed!

If you haven't read _Watching, _you should! (And you should review too….) It's a good little short story, I promise. I get all As in my writing class, if that makes any difference to you…

So, if anyone wants to help a tired, stressed girl who is filling out college applications, and make her feel a little better, then put a smile on her face, and read and review her stories! (But, if you're gonna yell my ear off, please refrain…I don't need to have an early midlife crisis…college apps are quite enough stress thank you!)

One more thing…….This fic isn't associated or connected to my other fic, _Watching_. Just so you guys know…

Enjoy!

**Roundabout Way**

"Inuyasha! Get out of my room! _SIT!_"

"Inuyasha! Don't be so mean to Shippo! He's just a kid! _SIT!_"

"Inuyasha! Don't be such a pig! Try _chewing_ your food! _SIT!_"

"Inuyasha! I'm going home, so don't try and stop me! _SIT!_"

"Inuyasha! Leave Kouga alone! _SIT!_"

"Inuyasha! Stop being such a violent _jerk_! _SIT!_"

"Inuyasha! Don't bother me; I'm not in a good mood right now! _SIT!_

"Inuyasha! I need to tend to your wounds, so stop messing around! _SIT!_"

It always went the same way. She'd yell "Inuyasha! Followed by some exasperatingly incomplete, unjustified, or just plain stupid admonishment, followed by that accursed word. Inuyasha scowled darkly as the most prominent and frequently used of her reprimands floated through his head. There were many, many more where that came from. He wasn't quite sure that he could count _how_ many times she'd sat him, or how many flimsy reasons she'd given for the punishments that she handed out so readily.

And now, glaring at her as she prepared to dole out one more of the abhorred 'sitting sessions', the only thing he could feel was pure, unadulterated, unbridled fury.

It had been a pleasant enough morning, the sun shining high and hot in the sky. Uneventful, quiet, and mundane. It was just the kind of day that gave put him in one of two moods that were polar opposites of one another. Either he was jumpy, a bit irritable, and tense with unused energy, or seemingly drugged, and chose to flop lazily in whichever tree offered the most protection from the heat.

Inuyasha had perched himself in the tree whose branches hung heavily over the water and watched as the others waded into the pond, splashing mirthfully. Okay, okay. So he watched Kagome. Her strange 'bathing suit' was quite the entertainment—even more enticingly revealing than her usual uniform. It was, what she called a 'one-piece', which Inuyasha guessed made sense, seeing as how it was…well…one piece. But it was form-fitting and the swirl-y purple material was cut deeply in the back…anyway. Suffice it to say, Inuyasha had enjoyed the show. She'd brought one for Sango to wear—and to his surprise, the demon-slayer relented and wore it….with an oversized 't-shirt' Kagome had brought along to go over it.

He'd just gotten comfortable. He'd taken off his heavy outer coat and slipped out of his white undershirt as well, spreading them over the branch he intended to roost on. He flopped onto his stomach on the branch, his head cushioned by his wrist, and deftly moved his smothering curtain of hair off the side, exposing his back to the dappled sunlight of the afternoon. After sniffing the air one last time for threats, thus assuaging his senses that there were none, he settled down for a nap, the heat having made him feel slightly lethargic. His eyes had just slipped shut, and he was dozing lightly when—

"Inuyasha? Why don't you come on in and join us?" Kagome called. He cracked one eye open to regard her lazily. He smiled inwardly, his eyes scanning her form surreptitiously.

"Why should I?" he drawled, just for the sake of being difficult. She clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes.

"Because it's fun," she reasoned. "And it's hot out, and the water's cool. So come on, don't be such a party-pooper," she beckoned. He rolled his eyes back at her and scowled a bit, but only for show.

"Fine," he conceded, and proceeded to slide off of his branch and land gracefully next to the girl with a splash in the hip-deep water. Kagome laughed when he shivered at the cool temperature and splashed him playfully, then struggled to wade quickly through the water and evade the tidal wave Inuyasha created in retaliation. "Damn right you'd better run! You got water in my ears, you wench!" he shouted after her.

With a single leap, he landed in front of her with a tremendous splash, drenching the giggling girl even further. In the process, he'd soaked Shippo as well, floating languidly along on his tiny pink inner tube.

"WAAAH! Inuyasha! You got water in my eyes!" he cried. Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"Well, you're in the water, runt. What'd ya expect?" the older demon retorted dryly.

"But it huuuurts!" the fox wailed.

"Oi! It's just water, it ain't acid! Quit bein' such a little whiner," he said flippantly.

"I'm not being a whiner!" Shippo whined. He scrubbed his eyes furiously with his tiny fists. He blinked rapidly, eyes looking slightly irritated. "Inuyasha, you're such a meanie! You got water _and_ sand in my eyes!" And with that declaration, he began to bawl.

"Keh! Baby," Inuyasha shot back.

"I'm not a baby! Meanie!"

"Wuss."

"Meanie!"

"Crybaby."

"Meanie!"

"Inuyasha! Honestly, would it kill you let a petty argument go, just _once_?" Kagome stressed. She plucked Shippo from his inner tube and cradled him in one arm as she attended to him. "Open your eye, Shippo. Let me see," she cooed softly at the kit.

"Kagome, put him down, he's not a fucking infant," Inuyasha spat.

"He's only a kid, Inuyasha."

"Yeah, but he's not a _baby_. He said so himself," he pointed out.

"Well, he's hurt and I'm going to--"

"Spoil him rotten. That's just what you're gonna do. Kagome, you give the kid whatever the hell he wants! You let him laze about and hitch rides and eat all damn day. He's fucking eight years old! How the hell do you expect him to grow up if you treat him like a newborn all the damn time?"

"Well, one thing's for sure, Inuyasha. I think Shippo will grow up to be a lot more mature than you. He's already got you beat by light years!" she said snippily, and began to carry the kitsune to shore. As soon as she turned her back, the kit smirked at Inuyasha and cheerily flipped him the bird.

"You little brat! If you stick that thing up at me one more time, I swear I'll pummel you so hard, you'll feel it into next week!" Inuyasha hissed. Unfortunately, Kagome heard him. She spun around.

Yet again, he was faced with the only bane of his company with Kagome, one that threatened everything he'd come to feel for the girl. Up until this very moment in time, Inuyasha hadn't really been in a particularly bad mood. However, at the very moment, today had quickly turned into one of those irritable days. And all of a sudden, he was really regretting even coming into the water at all.

Kagome's face twisted into that infamous little pout that he'd come to know so well: the one where her cheeks flushed, her eyebrows drew together ever-so-slightly, and the corners of her mouth twitched down, just a bit. He was about to be sat. Again. For no. Apparent. Reason.

"Inuyasha…" she said lowly. "How could you say something so mean? Shippo's just a kid! Don't threaten him like that! _SIT, boy_!"

The water was shallow where he was standing—it only came up to his knees. But that didn't change the fact that once Inuyasha's face was hurled to the rocky bottom, his air supply was effectively cut off.

As soon as he made contact with the bottom, Tessaiga jabbed up painfully under his ribs, and he grunted in discomfort. That action caused him to lose air, and even though he was well aware that he would be rendered almost motionless until the spell wore off, he still struggled fruitlessly against the prayer beads that held him bound.

As the seconds wore on, his chest began to burn and bit of water that got up his nose caused him to seize up, his body wracked with dry heaves. His head was starting to pound. He pushed desperately against the bottom, and finally, with a little resistance, the thrice-damned spell wore off and Inuyasha scrambled to the top, coughing and spluttering as he broke the surface.

"You _bitch_!" he roared. "You fucking _sat_ me under the _water_!" He was still halfway choking as sloshed through the water towards the shore.

"Well, it serves you right, threatening a child like that!" she huffed self-righteously. Inuyasha's eyes almost bugged out of his skull.

"Serves me right?" he echoed. "_Serves_ me _right_? Are you out of your fucking _mind_? I could've _died_, you stupid girl!" She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Inuyasha…"

"You don't think I could have died? Well, come here, let me show you how it feels to have your head held underwater by force!" he scowled. He rubbed his sore ribs, and could see the flesh there turning into a glaring bruise already.

"Oh, so now you're going to threaten _me_? _SIT!_" she commanded hotly, and once again, Inuyasha was smashed into the ground, the grains of sand finding their way into his eyes, nose and mouth.

"Inuyasha really is a bonehead, isn't he?" Shippo questioned softly.

"Yes, he is, Shippo. That's why you have to learn from his mistakes and never threaten the nice girls from the future that have incredible amounts of patience," Kagome explained.

"You always do things the hard way, don't you Inuyasha?" Sango chuckled.

"He'll never learn," Miroku added sagely. Inuyasha groaned softly as he lifted himself from the dirt. He spat out a good amount of sand before smirking disdainfully.

"Never learn, huh? Oh, believe me, I've learned _plenty_ about the four of you over the last three years," he said lowly. "And you call yourselves my friends," he muttered darkly.

"Inuyasha, we _are_ your friends. It's just that you—"

"No. No, you're not my friends. You're a bunch of fucking hypocrites, that's what you are," he said sharply.

"Inuyasha, how could you say something like that? Something so horrible…" Kagome gasped.

"I say it because it's fucking _true_. You _are_ hypocrites. Every last one of you."

"What's a hypocrite?" Shippo questioned. He was ignored.

"You," Inuyasha started, looking at Sango. "You _always_ side with Kagome. _Always._ Whenever I do something that doesn't exactly fit what _you _think I should do. You always take her to the fucking hot springs, and talk shit about how 'stupid' or 'insensitive' or 'rude' I am." Sango paled and fidgeted with the edge of her t-shirt. "You don't listen to both sides of the argument because you automatically side with _her,_" he continued. "Now I don't know if it's some woman thing, but whatever the hell it is pisses me the fuck off!" he raged. He began to pace. He was absolutely _furious_, nostrils flaring, fingers twitching, ears flicking agitatedly back and forth.

"You, you stupid monk. _You're _so much of a damn pervert that you'll side with the women _anyway_. You just sit there like Bhudda himself called on you to put your two-cents into every fucking argument. What Kagome and me say is Kagome and me's business, and _nobody_ needs you to stick your damn nose into _every little thing_—"

"Inuyasha, maybe you should calm down—" Kagome started.

"I'm. Not. Finished. You rude little bitch. I'm not fucking done. You always get to yell my ear off about what pisses _you_ off, so now it's my turn. Don't _fucking_ interrupt me. You _always_ get to have your voice heard, so shut up now that mine's is getting heard and listen," he sneered. He turned back to Miroku, who gulped audibly and averted his eyes.

"I don't give a _shit_ about the damn tired-ass excuses you pull every time you wanna cop a cheap feel on somebody's ass. You're _not_ entitled to be an authority on every situation, every argument, or every issue. Get this through your thick-ass skull monk: it's none of your got-damned business!" Inuyasha bellowed. Miroku paled

He sought out Shippo. No, he wasn't safe either. The kit was trembling behind Kagome's overstuffed bag, only his bushy tail peeking out from the side. Inuyasha grabbed him roughly by the tail and held him at eye level.

"You! You little brat, I swear, you piss me off every single fucking day. You whine, you cry, you complain, you taunt. You bitch and moan and annoy the shit out of everyone until you get your way, and when somebody, namely _me_, tells you to shut up and _grow_ up, you go bawling to Kagome, and she fucking _sits_ me. You're an _annoyance_, kitsune. A pesky, mewling, weak little annoyance, that is gonna be one hell of a hindrance to society if you don't fucking _be a man_ soon." He unceremoniously dropped the kit to the ground with a '_thump'_. The kit, to Inuyasha's surprise, didn't cry. 'Good. I'm sick of hearing his wailing _anyway_,' he thought darkly.

Lastly, he turned to Kagome, the girl that aroused feelings and emotions to turbulent within him that he had to fight to keep them at bay.

"And you. Little Miss _Ka-Go-Me_. You're the worst of them all," he sneered, a sick, tired grimace on his face. "I've known you longest, three and a half _fucking_ years, and you still, _still_, insist on smashing my face into the ground every damn chance you get." Inuyasha shook his head, chuckling darkly. "You know, you'd think that after three damn years, you'd have stopped this shit by now. Tempered it at least—but no! You know, you prance around here in your weird little kimonos, acting all self-righteous and perfect. Well, I got news for you, Kagome: you're _not fucking perfect!_ Nobody is! But you take it upon yourself to 'punish' me, and to teach me to do right—Guess what? I had somebody to teach me what's right! I had a mother! You ain't her!

"And dammit, I've tried to ignore it! But, shit, Kagome! You sit me almost every damn day! I understand that you needed it in the beginning; to protect yourself from me. I know that. I understand that. But fuck! I haven't been like that in _years_! So what do you use the damn prayer beads for _now_, Kagome? You use them to make me toe the line! To keep me in order! To make me some kind of…of….fucking _house pet_!" He was snarling. He was snapping. He was practically seeing red. Every frustration, every annoyance, every grievance he'd ever had was bubbling out, and he was spewing. He was so mad, so frustrated, so incredibly exasperated, tears almost pricked his eyes.

"It's not a way to keep you out of danger anymore, Kagome. You've made it different from that. Every time I say something that you don't particularly like, you sit me. Every time I do something you don't like, you sit me. Every time I try to keep you with me, you sit me. If you're feeling in a bad mood, you sit me. If I speak my mind, you sit me. If I try to keep it to myself, you sit me! I can't fucking win with you! There's no way to win! May not have had friends, but I've watched. And I've never seen real 'friends' treat each other the way you treat me. If you get frustrated, you sit me! If the situation was flipped, do you know how many times a day I'd sit _you_, if frustration was all the criteria it took?

"And the problem is, that you don't _listen_, Kagome! You think you listen, you hallucinate that you listen, but you don't _really _listen! Me? I listen. You don't think I do, but, dammit, Kagome, I _hear_ you! When you're tired, I find a place for us to rest. When you're thirsty, I find water so that you can drink. When you're hungry, I hunt. Do you know how hard it is to see you go back through that damn well, knowing that I'm bound to be lonely and frustrated without you here? But you say you miss your family. I _hear_ you! But you don't hear me! You never talk things out with me! Shit, Kagome, I'm not fucking _stupid_! I may not be as smart as you with all your fancy books, but, dammit, I'm not a complete imbecile! You can _talk_ to me, but instead you just make me submit to you like I'm some dumb animal!

"And don't you think it's a bit hypocritical of you? You say you're my friend. You say you love me. You say you don't see me as unclean, and that you see me as an equal. But _you don't treat me like one!_ If you really saw me as an equal, you wouldn't have that fucking word on your lips all the damn time, ready to pull it out whenever you get a whim!

"Do you know how hard you make this? Do you know how hard it makes it to love you when you're forever smashing me into the dirt? It makes it damn, hard, Kagome, fucking hard! You don't get it! I'm not an animal! You can't fucking _tame_ me! I'm not gonna just let you control me, so I can be your damn well-behaved lapdog. I'm not your _pet_, Kagome," he snarled, twisting the word 'pet' as though it were poison. "I don't want to _be_ your damned pet. And I _won't_ be your pet, not when I want so much fucking more."

By the time he was finished, the entire pond area was silent. Not a thing could be heard, with the exception of Inuyasha's labored breathing. His skin was flushed and hot, his heated blood roaring under the surface of flesh. He was hot and sweaty, gritty with sand, and tired from the heat as well as his passionate tirade. He needed to get away.

"You'll probably go home now," he continued, much quieter than before. The girl in front of him had her fists clenched so tightly, they were white about the knuckles. Her mouth was slightly agape, her eyes wide and unblinking. Inuyasha couldn't quite tell if she was furious beyond all belief, or on the verge of tears. The only think he knew for sure was that she was in shock. He couldn't blame her for that. He'd never talked to them in that manner before. "I don't care. You'll probably start crying as soon as you reach your well house, and I'm sorry that you'll cry, but I'm not sorry for what I said. You'll probably tell your mother how I hurt your feelings, broke your heart, whatever. Go. It's fine if you do. Because as much as you can't stomach my being here, I can't really stand being in your presence right now either."

And with that, Inuyasha silently turned his back on them all and went in search of another pond or stream in which to wash the dirt from his face and chest. He didn't bother grabbing his outer coat and white undershirt. For at that moment, he didn't really care about anything anymore.

He stayed away from them for the rest of the day, save dinner. Remnants of the wild boar he'd caught were reheated over a fire in Kaede's hut, along with boiled vegetables and herbs. Kagome hadn't left yet, which surprised Inuyasha, but he made no motion to show it. All was silent in the hut.

"It is far too quiet in here this evening," Kaede noted. "Was there a falling out between all of you?" she asked. No one answered. Only the sounds of chewing filled the room. "Well, this is strange," the older woman spoke aloud to no one but herself. "If a meal is this quiet, it usually means there is peace among the partakers. However I feel quite a heavy tension in the air."

Inuyasha saw Kagome look at him out of the corner of his eye. Without a word, he abruptly stood and exited the hut with only a shuffling of reed curtain in his wake.

A few hours later, as Inuyasha sat in the topmost branches of the Sacred Tree, he heard Kagome's soft footsteps as she passed by, undoubtedly on her way to the well. Faint wisps of her scent danced by his nose. He sighed heavily. He hadn't _wanted_ to hurt her. He hadn't _wanted _ to make her cry, and he surely hadn't _wanted_ her to go home….he only wanted to be heard. He only wanted her to know how _he_ felt for a change. So, sure, he was sorry that she'd left, even though he led her to believe otherwise. But he wasn't sorry that he'd spoken his mind.

Seven days. That was how long she'd been gone. Seven. Whole. Days. One hundred and sixty-eight minutes. Ten thousand and eighty minutes. Six hundred and four thousand eight hundred seconds. Time never seemed to tick by so slowly as it had that week. Inuyasha growled in frustration. Had there ever been a worse week? He was hot, sweaty, tired, irritable, _and_ Kagome was gone.

He'd expected her to leave, but he hadn't expected her to be gone for _seven days_.

But he didn't go to get her. Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kaede hadn't asked him to, either. Whether that was because they didn't _choose_ to ask him, or whether they simply _couldn't_ because he'd stayed away from Kaede's hut was another matter entirely.

He tugged absently on the binding beads. 'Stupid girl,' he thought darkly. 'What right does _she_ have to be upset? _I'm _the one who gets his face slammed into the dirt on a regular basis.' Inuyasha sighed. As much as he hated being sat, and as much as he felt that what he said was justified, he couldn't deny: he missed the girl. Terribly so. He scratched his chest absentmindedly, yawned and stretched.

He wondered what the others thought of him now. He didn't want to lose their friendship entirely. But….he _did_ feel he was owed at least a tiny apology. Was that really so much to ask? '_I_ have to apologize all the fucking time,' he thought. 'Even if it was under duress…'

So wrapped up in his thoughts was he that he didn't even notice the scent that always served to distract him wafting up to the perch on which he rested.

"Inuyasha?" her voice called softly. He jumped at the sound. He had to bite down on his tongue to keep from murmuring out "Kagome." He couldn't afford losing all of his credibility as one pissed off hanyou. Maybe she'd see the error of her ways? Instead, he opted to avert his eyes and cross his arms over his bare chest.

"What do _you_ want?" he sneered in his usual way.

"Can….do you think you could come down? Please?"

"You gonna sit me if I choose not to?" he asked, glaring at her pointedly. She bit her lip.

"No. No, I'm not gonna 's' you…I just was hoping that you'd come down….so I can talk to you," she explained.

"I can hear ya just fine from up here, and you can hear me too. So talk."

"I…I'd really prefer if…if I could see your face. Please? I promise I'm not gonna use the word, Inuyasha but please?" she practically begged.

"Fine." He allowed himself to slink from the tree branch and land in front of her. He leaned against the trunk and crossed his arms. "What?" he asked flatly. Kagome looked down at the bulging plastic bag she held in her hands. Inuyasha squinted at it, immediately recognizing the orange and yellow cardboard packaging.

"I, um….just…" she trailed off, holding the bag out a bit. He stared at her incredulously.

"I'm not so weak-minded that a bag full of Ramen is gonna make me okay," he said slowly. Did she really think he was that dumb and easily swayed? Kagome's head shot up, her eyes wide.

"No, no! That's not what I meant!" she insisted, hands waving defensively.

"Don't insult me, Kagome," he said dangerously.

"No, I wasn't! I—I didn't bring the Ramen for that! I…I just know that you like it, so I thought I'd…" her words died, and she set the bag down by her fee. "I didn't mean to insult you, Inuyasha." She dropped the yellow bag from her shoulders, and then picked at the edge of her t-shirt anxiously. "I came to apologize."

"Oh, really?" Inuyasha snorted, intrigued and surprised that she would even admit to such a thing.

"Yeah. I…I know I haven't really treated you…like I should. I mean…that's not what I mean. What I meant to say is…I never want you to feel as though you're…lesser…than what you are. I never want you to feel like I think that you're unequal—because that's not how I feel about you at all," she explained. She sighed deply before surprising the boy out of his skin and stepping forward to grab his hand.

"Inuyasha…I…I feel absolutely _awful_…because everything you said that day…everything you said was true. I _do_ act self-righteous and snobbish…and I can't tell you how sorry I am for making you feel like less than a person…stupid necklace," she grimaced. "I really didn't realize how much I say 'the word' until you spelled it out…I guess I started to take it for granted….like a novelty or something…"

"Keh! Well it ain't a fucking _novelty_, that's for damn sure," he scoffed.

"I know. I know. And…it seemed like you've had all that on your mind for so long…just, the way it all came spewing out like that…Why didn't you ever tell me before? How much it hurt you?"

"I _did_ tell you before. Like I said, you never listened," he groused.

"When did you tell me? I'm sure I'd remember something like that—"

"Oh, well, when I would say 'Hey, wench, what the hell was that for?' or 'Cut that shit out, you stupid girl!' or even a simple 'Quit slammin' my face into the fucking ground, idiot!'. Those were all me telling you that I wasn't to keen on the whole 'sitting' business," he said dryly.

"Oh…I guess I never really noticed before—"

"Well, you're not to good at recognizing classy subtlety," he said sarcastically. She frowned.

"Me? _I'm _not too good with subtlety? What about _you_? _You're_ the one who can't seem to take hints!" she said crossly.

"Okay, okay! So we're _both_ not too quick on the uptake! Fine!" he grumbled. He crossed his arms and looked away from her.

"That probably only makes us more perfect for each other," Kagome commented quietly. Inuyasha stared at her.

"What?"

"What you said…the other day…did you mean that?" she asked carefully.

"Um…I said a lot of things that day, and I'm pretty sure I meant all of them…and I'm pretty sure none of _most _of what I said would have you giving me a reaction like that…so the only thing I can think of what I said that would give you that kind of reaction would…be…" he trailed off, paling as he looked at her.

"That you love me?" Kagome finished for him.

"Right…" He coughed and scratched the back of his head.

"That was real?" she pushed.

"Dammit, woman! How many times to I have to fucking _say_ it? I already _said_ I _meant_ everything I said that day, so why do you keep pushing—"

He was cut off when the girl promptly slumped against him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I love you, Inuyasha," she mumbled, her voice muffled by her hair and his. He tentatively wrapped his arms around her as well.

"I love you too, crazy girl….as difficult as you make it…and as infuriating as you are. And confusing. And annoying. And—"

"Alright, enough," she cut him off dryly, cutting him a slanted look.

"I'm sorry, again. I really mean it. I don't want you to think I'm insincere or anything—because I really, really mean it, and I don't want you to be mad at me anymore."

"I'll be fine…as long as you make it up to me," he said loftily. She shot him a suspicious, unsure look.

"Make it up to you…how?"

"Well, as long as you promise to cook all this ramen, you should be eligible to promptly fall back into my good graces," he grinned. She smiled back.

"Done. I plan to start making amends effective immediately," she insisted. She reached up towards his face, and for a panicked moment, Inuyasha thought she was going to grab his face and kiss him. Instead, she stopped just short at the base of his neck. She hooked three fingers around his prayer beads, and with a sharp pull that dug one of the teeth into the back of his neck, the necklace string was snapped, and the beads and teeth fell and scattered on the dirt beneath them.

"Good riddance," he muttered, staring at the hated bobbles. Kagome gripped his hand in hers.

"Come on. Let's go back to Kaede's. I'm sure the others are wondering where we are," she said. Inuyasha didn't bother to tell her that he hadn't seen the others since he'd left them by the pond the previous week.

The silence around them was comforting and peaceful until Inuyasha's ears picked up the muffled sound of sobs. He whipped to his left, looking at the girl sharply. He as completely flummoxed.

"Oi! What the hell are you _crying_ for?" he asked, panicky. She gave him a watery smile through the tears lining her cheeks.

"Nothing! It's nothing, I'm fine," she insisted, waving him off while trying to wipe her nose on her sleeve.

"Hey, don't lie to me! You ain't fine! What the hell is the problem?"

"I just…this…that wasn't exactly how I pictured us admitting our feelings," she confessed, shaking her head. "I mean, with the whole blowing up last week, and me leaving, and the arguing…it wasn't my picture perfect…"

"What did you have in mind?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, you know….the movie-cliché setting: beach, sunset, flowers, soft breeze. Instead it's the forest, early afternoon, weeds, and hot, muggy weather," she chuckled a bit through her tears.

"Does it really matter? The setting, I mean? Does the place really matter as much as the words do?" he asked her.

"No….no, I guess you're right…" she agreed. But she still looked a bit sad. Well. She'd given him her apology. Now he wanted to make her feel better, if only just smile. Inuyasha abruptly let her hand go. He crouched, and then stood, facing her again.

"Oi, Kagome…" he started gently. He held out a tiny, half-fluff dandelion with a brown stem. "It ain't exactly a flower, but…" he smirked wryly. "Just remember the words, Kagome." She took it, and laughed, a deep, hearty laugh.

"Yeah, Inuyasha…the words."

Just read, 'cause I don't wanna get flamed….

Author's Notes:

Okay! My second fic!

Okay, so like I said up top, this story isn't connected to, associated with or a follow-up of _Watching_. I only say that because this fic was for a different purpose.

I don't know about anybody else, but I think Kagome sits Inuyasha entirely too much. So, I decided to write about it. I feel really bad for the guy… So I decided to let him have his own little tirade for a change….

I'm not trying to portray Kagome as a complete bitchy little brat (though she seems to come across that way to me sometimes…) It just seems to come out that way in this fic. And I just think she's a little too liberal with the 'sits'.

That's why I like to portray her different when I write. Like the Kagome you saw in _Watching_? That's how I like to portray her: a bit more calm, sweet, maybe a bit of a spazz, cuz I think it's a cute way to be, and a teeny bit melodramatic, but in a funny way. Not in an 'I want to be the center of attention because I'm so pure and holier-than-thou' way.

Also. One thing you usually won't see in a story of mine: uncontrollable bawling. Okay, this is just me, I'm not trying to force my ideas or opinions on anyone, but sometimes it seems like the girls in anime series cry WAY too much over the smallest most insignificant things! That was one thing I was trying to portray in this fic as well. I mean, I'd have her cry at reasonable things, like character death or something, but not something stupid like 'Oh! Inuyasha said I have a hair sticking out of place in my ponytail holder!' and then have her sit him and run home crying. EEEyaaaahh…that will not show up in a story of mine…

(sorry about this, I tend to ramble…)


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